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The news that Meghan Markle’s father, Thomas, is in a hospital, having suffered a stroke so serious that it reportedly left him unable to speak, will renew pressure on the duchess to reconcile with her father, and introduce her husband and children to him for the first time.
However, as with all things concerning Meghan, the latest medical crisis for her father is likely to polarize opinion, with a significant number of Meghan’s fans arguing on social media that she is right to have cut off from a parent they consider toxic.
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Thomas has admitted that he staged photographs in exchange for cash before his daughter’s wedding, but has argued that he did so only in a naïve attempt to improve his image and after being worn down by the pressure of being surveilled by paparazzi photographers.
However in the course of Meghan’s successful copyright infringement and invasion of privacy action against the publishers of the Daily Mail, it was revealed that Harry and Meghan sent him conciliatory text messages after news of the staged pictures broke.
Meghan’s defenders also point to her father’s multiple interviews, in which he has been aggressively critical of his daughter, as evidence that he is best avoided.
Duncan Larcombe, a royal author and former royal editor for the Sun, told The Daily Beast: “Meghan hasn’t released any statement and I doubt she intends to go down there. That bridge is burned. If you look at what he did before the wedding, that’s hardly surprising. He has claimed it was naivety, but it was clearly duplicitous.”
Meghan’s spokespeople did not respond to emails seeking comment on whether she intended to visit her father or would contribute to his medical bills, suggesting such a turn of events was unlikely.
Meghan’s half-sister Samantha, who has been a voluble critic of Meghan’s, appeared to put the blame for her father’s latest ill health squarely on Meghan, telling the Daily Mail: “It’s a travesty how much he’s been tortured and how much he’s had to go through thanks to my sister’s disregard the past few years. That is unforgivable.”
And as for those medical bills? The Daily Mail’s Dan Wootton, who was due to appear on British TV with Thomas Markle during the queen’s jubilee, and appears to have a direct line to him and Samantha, wrote: “There is fury among the Markle family that Thomas has been left to fund his own medical treatment.”
The fees could well be substantial: Although Thomas lives in a retirement village in Mexico, TMZ said that paramedics who loaded him into an ambulance in Tijuana transported him to “a hospital across the border in Chula Vista, California.”
TMZ said that Markle was unable to speak and had to “write down his symptoms on a piece of paper.”
Prince Harry and Meghan attend the sitting volleyball event during the Invictus Games at Zuiderpark on April 17, 2022 in The Hague.
Karwai Tanq/GettyLady Colin Campbell, the society author and YouTuber who had been planning to host Thomas at her home Castle Goring over the jubilee, told The Daily Beast: “If she’s clever, she will find a way to visit and reconcile. Let’s see if Netflix lean on her. They might well do so. Filthy lucre might work where decency failed.”
Royal author Tom Bower, who has a book on Meghan coming out soon, told British TV network ITV that he had been in touch with Thomas Markle, who told him he had recently fallen while out shopping.
According to the Daily Mail, Bower said: “I’ve been in touch with him for my book, which comes out very soon now, for some time.
“And he is very upset, he’s very unhappy because of course he was a very loving father to Meghan and supported her throughout her childhood when her mother wasn't there. And paid for her student fees too.
“He was very upset that he hasn’t been able to see his grandchildren. So I do think to an extent he was going to come to London, although he told me that he was coming to see the queen, I think in reality he was also hoping to see Meghan and to see his grandchildren.
“And we do know, of course, that if all Meghan Markle’s family had been here in London, it would have somewhat dominated the news outlets, not just the Jubilee itself. So to that extent I suppose we’ve been relieved of that saga.”
